


Talk Talk

by Smapdi



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 02:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2370341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smapdi/pseuds/Smapdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of conversations between Danny and Mindy. AU where Danny never made it to Mindy and Casey's wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk Talk

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure this is really angsty enough to qualify but I'm not great at angst. When there's a mild discomfort and awkwardness challenge I'll be all over it!

"Wait. So, you didn't get married?"

Danny stands on the other side of the desk, holding a professionally wrapped gift, all white and silver with faux baby's breath flowers adorning it. 

"Nope. I'll still take the gift, though!" Mindy reaches for the box. 

He makes a face and yanks it away, setting the gift on a chair and sinking down onto the other one. "What happened?" 

"Nothing happened. We just decided to wait, to make it more special than just, you know, my living room and a penis cake." She shakes her head at his raised eyebrows. "Don't ask. He's going to finish out his time in Haiti without me, and when he gets back, we can make plans."

Danny nods, and there's a hesitancy to him that makes Mindy wonder what's on his mind, because it's clearly more than just her pre-empted wedding that has him sitting there looking uncomfortable. Then she remembers why he missed her non-wedding. 

"Oh! Danny, did you..."

"Yeah." He nods again, over enthusiastically, staring at his hands clasped in his lap. "Yeah, I asked her."

"And?"

Danny meets her eyes briefly. "She said yes. We're, uh, we're gonna try to work things out." His gaze drops back to his hands. 

Mindy can't put her finger on why this news makes her uneasy. "That's great, Danny. Good for you," she blurts out, hoping to fill the hollow with words. "Is she going to buy you a new laptop?"

He smiles tightly, and it doesn't reach his eyes. "Naw, we're not going to dwell on the past. Moving forward, clean slate and all."

"Not dwelling on the past? That's so un-Danny like." 

"Well, you know, people change." Danny shrugs and meets her eyes again. "She'll change a little, I'll change a lot, we'll work it out."

"Danny, you shouldn't... never mind. You do what makes you happy." 

"Thanks, Min." He stands up and waves at the present he brought in. "Keep the blender."

"You ruined the surprise!" She cries with a smile and jumps up, coming around the desk. When she reaches him, Mindy throws her arms around him and hugs him close. He's stiff for a moment before reaching up and tentatively hugging her back. "Congratulations." 

Danny holds on for a split second longer than is comfortable and then pulls away. "Alright, let go." 

She moves back, but reaches her hand out to his arm and squeezes. He looks at her hand, then her face, before leaving. 

\---

"I mean, I'm glad he's back, but something just feels off." Mindy is curled up on the couch in the doctor's lounge, picking the M&Ms out of a bag of trail mix. "Like, he was so committed to the church, and it was so easy for him to give it up. That doesn't make me feel that secure about us."

Danny is next to her, flipping channels. "Yeah."

"Ugh, Danny, are you even listening? I'm trying to get your thoughts on this."

"I don't know what to think about you guys." Danny clicks off the tv and turns to her. "I never have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

He sighs. This wasn't supposed to turn combative. He had enough of that at home. 

"I don't know, Min. Casey's a nice guy, and he makes you happy. It doesn't have to make sense to me."

Mindy crosses her arms over her chest and frowned at him. "Really? We don't make sense. Okay."

"That's all you're gonna take away from this conversation. You're offended because I don't get you as a couple." Danny clicks back on the tv, and Mindy grabs the remote from him and shuts it off. 

"No, I just want more of an explanation. Why don't you think we make a good couple?" 

She's looking at him intensely, and he realizes she's not gunning for a fight, a chance to defend her choices. She looking to see if his views validate her own. It's a precarious position for him, because if he tells her what he really thinks, she'll probably hate him. He really can't deal with the wrath of another woman at this point. 

"I never said that." Danny chooses his words carefully. "I just think sometimes he's not what's best for you. But that's not my decision."

Mindy sighs and falls back against the cushions. "It just shouldn't be this hard, you know? That's why I'm worried."

"I know." He realizes his tone might have revealed a bit too much when Mindy sits up straight and fixes her gaze at him. 

"How are things with you and Chris?"

Danny flinches at the diminutive. She would wrinkle her nose and correct anyone who dared say that to her face. It's Christina, thank you. 

"We're fine." 

It's obviously not fine. 

"How is she liking the teaching job?" 

He snorts. "She's already given notice."

"What? Danny, why?" Mindy looked concerned. Danny had been so happy when she had taken a position at a community college near their home in New Jersey. She could stay home, instead of flying all over for shoots and exhibits, and who knows, maybe she'd change her mind about kids if they got domestic enough. 

"It's too confining, being in a classroom. She feels suffocated. And she says you can't teach art, anyway. You have to just be it."

"That's ridiculous. You can't teach art? Maybe you can't teach medicine, ever. You just pick up a scalpel and BE a surgeon." 

"Well, I don't know. But I have to support her. She needs to do what makes her happy."

Mindy stared at him for a minute before speaking. "What about you?"

Danny grinned a lopsided smile. "What about me?" 

She can't help but lay a hand on his arm. "Are you happy? Is she supporting you?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, I don't need any. But sure."

"You know if you're not... it's not a failure, Danny."

He shakes her hand off his arm. "It's fine. I'm fine. Worry about yourself and Grandmaster Flash, okay?"

"How old are you?" 

"Whatever, Min. Just..." He waves in her general direction. "Let me worry about my life."

Not that he's worried. It will be fine. They just need more time. 

\---

"Hey. You didn't take your heartache days after all?" Danny peeks his head into the office to see Mindy at her desk, as curled into the fetal position as one can get in a rolling chair. 

"Stupid Jeremy," she mumbles. "He's never had a broken heart."

"Come on, I'll take you to lunch."

"Danny, I don't want to talk." 

"Who said anything about talking? Are you seriously turning down food?" Danny leans against her desk and grins. 

"What kind of food?" 

"Sushi? Tacos? Pizza? You pick. But not all three this time." He extends a hand and she takes it, letting him pull her to her feet. He doesn't let go until they get to the door. 

\---

"Danny, wow. This is... wow."

"Yeah." He takes drains the beer in his hand and looks around for another. "It's fine."

"Well at least she let you cover your junk." Mindy squints at the larger than life image on the gallery wall - Danny in his birthday suit, kneeling, not looking at the camera. "Why did you do this? Why did she do this?"

"It's her art, Min. She loves it." Danny tugs at the collar of his shirt. "Where's your date?" 

"Jeremy cornered him over by your ass." 

"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" 

"I can't foresee a time when you will,no." She nudges him and he snickers, but it's hollow, followed by a heavy sigh. At least he escaped Christina's iron grip for a moment. She spent the first hour of the show parading him around like a pedigreed dog, while various critics and connoisseurs looked through him as they talked with her. Now he was free for a moment, but any minute she might reclaim him. He finished the second beer. 

Mindy was watching him closely. 

"Danny," she said hesitantly. "You know if you ever need to talk..." 

He laughs. "Min, believe me, I know where to go for talking." Danny puts an arm around her shoulder, an uncharacteristic move but suddenly he just needed to do it. It was probably the alcohol. "You know me, I'm not a talking kinda guy."

"You're not a put your naked body on display kinda guy, either, but there's that." She snakes an arm around his waist and they stand there looking at each other for a minute. 

He wants to say something. He just isn't sure what. 

\---

"I am not too picky, and here's why. I'm going on a date with a forty year old who wears shorts."

Danny closes the file on his desk and shakes his head. "That's not going to prove you're not picky, it's just going to prove you make terrible choices in life. You actually don't need to prove that anymore." 

"That's incredibly rude. What the hell is going on with you lately? I bought you than friendship cake and I found Peter and Morgan eating it out of the trash. With their hands!"

"I'm gluten free." Danny can't even look her in the eye when he says it. 

"What the actual fuck? You love gluten." Mindy bangs on the table in disgust. 

"No, you love it. I'm feeling much healthier now. And Christina..."

"Okay, enough. I can't believe you're actually on a fad diet because of her."

"It's not a fad. It's a way of life."

She sighs and leans back in the chair. "Danny, who are you? I miss you. I mean, you're grumpier than ever, which shouldn't surprise me, but there's something missing. Something that made you... you. And I think it's because of her."

"Hey, come on, don't talk about her like she's a virus." Danny folds his arms and stares up at the ceiling. "It's okay to change things sometimes."

"She's changed YOU. And not for the better. You never smile anymore. You won't watch movies with me in the lounge, you never go out to the bar for work parties, I never even get texts from you. You're always in Jersey, and you're not even here when you're here."

"So you're saying my wife is inconvenient because I don't have time for you. Is that it?"

Is that it? Mindy hadn't realized the gist of her words until they were laid out on the table. 

"She's not your wife." 

"Well, she will be in a couple months. That's not the point."

"Okay, but my point is, it's not final." 

Danny finally looks at her and she's not sure how much of his expression is anger and how much is hurt. Her stomach knots anyway. 

"What the hell?" 

"Are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, I know you say you're happy..."

"I am happy. Mindy, it's none of your business."

"You say you're happy," she continues stubbornly. "But you don't act it. You act like a trapped wolf who's about to chew their leg off."

"Okay, enough." He stands up and goes to the door, giving her a look that clearly says leave. 

"Just think about what I said, Danny."

It's not like he hasn't been. 

\---

"Hey, your place is around here. You haven't rented it since Paul moved out, right? Can I just stay there tonight?" Mindy smiles brightly and claps her hands. 

"What? No. Call one of your friends."

"With what phone, Danny? Come on, what do you care?"

"I'm living there." Danny shrugs. 

"What? Why? Did something happen... with Christina?" 

He glares at her. She shouldn't be so happy at the thought. Why was she so happy at the thought?

"She's away for a few weeks. Some kind of photojournalism junket, I don't know. I figured I might as well stay close while she's gone."

"Oh. Well, okay. I guess it wouldn't be appropriate for me to stay there then."

"Why?" 

Mindy creases her brow in confusion. "Because Christina would get upset? Right?"

"Probably not." Danny shrugs. "I just figure you'll be a pain in the ass."

Of course, she will be. She'll want to talk and get in his head and try to figure him out and he just can't. But for some reason, the idea of her there is becoming strangely appealing. Like an escape. 

\---

He's barely in the door and he has the bottle of bourbon open, tipping It into a shot glass. When he went grocery shopping, It was strangely liberating to buy just what he wanted. Booze and gluten topped the list. 

"You want a drink?"

"No, that's okay I'm pretty tired. Do you have anything I can sleep in?" 

Danny downs the shot and pours another. He finds her a sweatshirt and some flannel pants and she curls up on the couch. He pours the bourbon in a glass this time, swirling it around in his hand. 

"Danny, you're kind of drinking a lot. Did you eat dinner?" Her voice is gratingly concerned. 

"Yeah, I had some bourbon."

She clucks her tongue at him and nudges his arm with her foot. "Danny."

"What?" He answers in a monotone voice. 

Mindy sits up. "Seriously. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Danny. You can't bullshit a bullshitter. I'm worried about you. I have been for a while." She puts her hand on his shoulder and he swallows hard. 

What the fuck. 

"I think she's cheating on me. Again."

"Oh. Oh, no. Danny..." Mindy, for once, has no words, but they flow from Danny like a geyser. 

"This guy, she's been spending a lot of time with him, and they planned this trip out of the blue... I don't know. I have no proof." He throws back the glass of bourbon, letting the amber liquid burn his throat. "You just, you get this feeling? Something's not right. It hasn't been right for a long time, not since... well, since you got back."

"Wait, it's my fault? How..."

He shakes his head. "Not your fault, not really. It just brought some things to light... But even still, it wasn't this wrong, until lately."

"I knew it," Mindy mutters under her breath. Danny gets up and walks to the kitchen and for a moment she thinks she offended him, but he's back with a refill and picks up where he left off, unprompted. 

"It's been rough, but I didn't want to give up."

Mindy quirks an eyebrow at the use of past tense, but stays quiet. 

"We haven't been... intimate. For a while." He can't look her in the eye. He's not sure if he'll see pity there, or disgust, and he's not sure which is worse. So he stares at his bourbon. "I guess I gave her plenty of reason to look elsewhere. Maybe I wanted her to, I don't know."

"What? Danny, why would you..."

"I don't love her." God, it felt good to get that out. His head was flaming with the heat of the alcohol and his stupid big mouth. Why was he telling her this? 

"Okay..." Mindy waited but he just sips his drink and shakes his head. "Then what's going on? Why are you still with her?" 

"I guess... I guess it's better than being alone." 

He looks at her then, and his chest feels tight, because he doesn't expect her to look so sad. So sad, and so beautiful. 

She takes the bourbon out of his hand and sets it on the coffee table. 

"Danny, you can't settle..." She turns back to him and he moves swiftly, catching her at the waist with one hand and pulling her to him, pushing her hair back from her face with the other. "What are you..."

His hand is on her cheek and he presses his lips to hers hungrily. When she gasps, he slides his tongue into her mouth. It's desperate and dirty and he almost thinks she's responding so he moves his hand up to palm her breast. 

She pushes him, hard, both hands on his chest, and her face is the picture of horror. "Stop."

Danny's hands fall limply to his sides and he stares at her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Mindy stands, panicking. "I can't stay. I... I'll go back to the hospital."

"No, Mindy. It's okay, I'll leave. I have somewhere else I can go." He's up and grabbing a change of clothes and his toothbrush before she can argue. 

\---

"Danny, I... we need to talk."

"No, we don't. Just... forget it happened. I can't apologize enough, okay? It was a mistake, just let it go. I have. Christina has."

Mindy closes the office door and strides into the room. "Christina knows?"

"I had to tell her. We can't keep secrets..."

"Danny, are you still going through with it? You're going to marry her? You've got to be fucking kidding me." She sits heavily in the chair across from him. 

"Yes, I'm going to marry her. She told me... I was wrong. She's not cheating. She just felt closer to this guy than me because I'm too closed off."

"That's still cheating, Danny. Emotional cheating."

Danny meets her glare. "Then I guess we're even. She forgave me. I have to forgive her."

"Danny, you don't love her. You can't marry someone you don't love.

"Of course I love her. That was just the booze talking." 

"You aren't sleeping together." She throws that out like its the trump card. 

"Well, we have things to address. Look, it's my life. Stay out of it." Danny pushes himself forcefully back from the desk. 

"Um, yes, well, you kind of involved me in it, so here I am." 

"I told you I was sorry. I made a mistake."

"Did you?"

"What do you mean, did I? I think it was pretty obvious."

"No, I know kissing someone else when you're engaged is a mistake. But was it a mistake that it was me?"

Danny looks down. "You're not making any sense, Mindy."

"What did you mean, then, you're 'even.' With the emotional cheating..."

"I don't know. It doesn't matter." He snaps a pencil in frustration. Mindy's like a dog with a bone. 

"It does matter." There's a plaintive tone to her appeal that makes his breath catch in his chest, and he looks at her. "Why did you kiss me, Danny?"

He can't tell her answer. They're already on thin ice.

"I'm sorry."

\---

"Hey."

Mindy looks up from the People magazine she's been staring at, waiting for an update on her laboring patient. It's one a.m. and Danny shouldn't be here. They've barely spoken in weeks. 

"Hey," she says resignedly. He's getting married in three days. Jeremy told her, in strictest confidence, that Danny approached him about selling his share in the practice. Christina wants him to work closer to home, not in the city. She's had a lump in her throat ever since. 

Danny sits and the space between them feels like miles. She doesn't know how to break up the tension, so she just leans into it. 

"So you're leaving, then. You're marrying a woman you don't really love and going to work somewhere else and you didn't have the guts to tell me. Why am I not surprised?"

"Min," he starts, his face flushed. 

"Don't 'Min' me, Danny. You don't get to call me by a little nickname and act like we're friends and everything is fine. It's not. It's not fine. It sucks." She throws the magazine at him and tries not to cry. 

"I was going to tell you." 

"I'm not going, Danny."

"Where aren't you going?" He looks confused. 

"To your stupid wedding. I'm not going to sit there and watch you make another huge mistake. I don't know what's wrong with you."

"Hey, that's not cool. You don't have to go, but come on. Don't lash out at me." Danny's voice softens. "Mindy, please. I don't know why you're so mad."

"You don't know why I'm mad?" She moves forward, into his space, her gaze unwavering. "You really can't figure it out?" 

"I'm getting married."

"Why?" She won't break eye contact. They've been here before, before she went to Haiti, only that time it was Danny staring and she was the one fidgeting and looking away. "Why are you marrying her, Danny? You don't have to be alone." 

He swallows, his eyes flitting down to her lips. "Give me a reason not to."

Suddenly Mindy is the one feeling trapped. She moves away, sitting against the back of the couch. "I'm not going to be your excuse."

\---

It's tomorrow. He's marrying her tomorrow, and there's nothing Mindy can do. This isn't some romantic comedy where one character runs into a chapel and declares their undying love, and the wedding gets called off and it's happily ever after. 

She won't be his excuse. No matter how much she wants him to stop this miserable sham, to quit this path of self destruction and unhappiness. If he can't make that choice himself, then he's going to have to be stuck with it. 

Except...

Where the fuck does that leave her?

And suddenly, it's midnight and she's got to find him before he turns into a pumpkin, or something, she just has to get to him and tell him she'll give him a reason. She'll give him a reason every night and twice on the weekends. 

Mindy knows he's staying in the city tonight, can't spend your wedding eve with the bride or some such nonsense. She knows it's wrong, and does it anyway, and she's standing in front of his door banging on it like a fool. 

When he swings it open, he doesn't even look surprised, and that kind of irks her. He just raises an eyebrow and smirks as he steps back to let her in. 

Her whole rehearsed speech, about how he can't do this to himself and he can't do this to her and how she didn't even know it till that night he kissed her, it all flies out the window when she looks at him. 

"Don't marry her, Danny."

He shakes his head. "Min, you can't just come in here and tell me what to do."

"I'm not. I'm telling you what to not do. Don't marry her. You don't love her, and you don't trust her. That's no way to start a lifetime. And it's not fair."

His eyes are soft, and his lips twist into a tiny grin. "Why isn't it fair?"

"Because... she doesn't deserve you, Danny. You're good, and strong and kind, even if you're kind of an asshole sometimes. It's not fair that she gets you when there are other people, better people, who don't have anyone.

Danny steps closer to her. "Like who?"

She flails her arms. "Half of Manhattan! I shouldn't have to go into detail. That doesn't matter."

He's closer still, almost close enough to touch her. Mindy catches her breath. She can smell him, and it's rich and masculine. It's making her dizzy. 

"It does matter." 

"Danny..." His hand reaches her hip and he pulls her close, and there's no alcohol on his breath, breath which is hot on her face. "Please don't marry her."

He strokes her cheek, sliding a thumb across her lips, and she draws in a quick deep breath.  
"I called it."

"What?" He's too close and she feels drunk. She can't understand him. 

"The wedding. I called it. And you're right, you're not my excuse." Danny ghosts his mouth over her lips, moving them to her chin, then along her jaw. He breathes into the shell of her ear and whispers. "You're my person."

"Oh, fuck, Danny. I knew you watched it." She lets out a tiny moan as his teeth graze her earlobe. 

"It's a terrible show. They don't follow proper medical protocol." His tongue licks the tender skin behind her ear. "But I like that short one, Bailey."

Mindy pulls back and looks him in the eye. "You're totally Bailey." 

"What? I'm McDreamy. You're totally Bailey." His mouth finds hers, and this time, she kisses back. He moves down to her throat, murmuring against her skin. "Short, bossy, overly confident..." Danny's hand slides down to cup her ass. "Fine as hell..." 

"You're right. I'm Bailey. You're definitely Meredith." She kisses his outrage away.


End file.
